Heroin epidemic plaguing DuPage County

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Heroin epidemic plaguing DuPage County

Heroin use is up all over the United States, but it’s especially bad in Illinois.

Heroin is a drug that is cheap and available just about everywhere. A $10 dollar bag can keep someone high for a day or two. And addicts no longer have to drive down I290, the so called “Heroin Highway,” to get to the west side of Chicago to buy it. Drug dealers will deliver heroin right to your front door.

Taking pain killers also often leads to heroin use. It’s a progression that’s becoming all too common throughout the Chicago area – especially in DuPage County.

The Chief Deputy Coroner in DuPage County says the number of heroin deaths began to jump about 6 years ago. From 2007 – 2011, there was an average of 26 deaths a year. In 2012 there were 43 heroin deaths.

And so far in 2013, up until last week, there have been 42 deaths.

That’s an average of about one heroin death every 8 days in DuPage County alone.

The victims range in age from as young as 15 to 66.

Since 2007, 87 percent of the victims are white males.

At Hazelden, the world renowned addiction treatment center, the number of people being treated for painkillers and heroin addiction is now second only to alcoholism. Most are young adults.